Reviews

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

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tregina's review against another edition

4.0

Classic science fiction is such a complicated prospect, what with the racism and sexism and homophobia undermining all the tremendous imagination and great vision. The beauty of reading Delany is that he avoids almost all of that, which automatically puts him head and shoulders, for me, above most of his contemporaries. And on top of that this particular novel is all about beautiful, glorious language. It's not perfect. The conclusion doesn't feel entirely organic (and of course the technology is anachronistic now). But it's wildly imaginative with a great female protagonist, a variety of sexual and romantic relationships, fascinating linguistics, body modification, telepathy, ghosts and intergalactic travel. For me, it's wonderful.

moorah's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

cecile87's review against another edition

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3.0

While I found the play on language and how it reflects and impacts cultural mindsets and thus how one views a problem and then solves it interesting, I found some of the delivery of the story confusing and distracting.

Some parts were deep and other parts felt cartoonish. Rydra’s colleagues felt like a band of Saturday morning kid-fare. Some parts of the story weren’t rendered very clearly—I found myself just moving along to grasp a sense of the trajectory of it.

My favorite parts were the two times the pirate ship members went out on spider-ships to attack the invaders. The fight strategy commands of the pirate captain Tarik were clever and fun. Worth the whole book, almost:

“From the speaker came Tarik’s voice: “Hear this: the strategy is Asylum. Asylum. Repeat a third time, Asylum. Inmates gather to face Caesar. Psychotics ready at the K-ward gate. Neurotics gather before the R-ward gate. Criminally insane prepare for discharge at the T-ward gate. All right, drop your strait jackets.”

noahfence2007's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

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3.0

A science fiction linguistic mystery. Perhaps that’s a weird sort of amalgamation, but then again in the pantheon of science fiction maybe a linguistic mystery isn’t so unusual. Pretty good. Better than just okay but certainly not mind-blowing.

tlhp's review against another edition

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5.0

Challenging and ambitious. Progressive (even for its time). Recommend only to the truly literate in the English language. Complicated language and intense pacing.